The marker squeaked as it wrote on the whiteboard. It seemed to be having a conversation with it in its own language. Miya wondered if the marker knew what it was writing and if the whiteboard understood what was being written on it, because undoubtedly she did not.

“Miya! Miya!” she heard someone repeating her name. Miya came back to reality finding everyone in the classroom watching her – including her English teacher.

“What?” she asked, with a flushed look on her face.

“Can you please read what I have written on the board?” her teacher, Mrs. Collin, asked, slightly annoyed that Miya was daydreaming.

Miya gaped at her teacher. Her hands felt sweaty as she looked at the words on the whiteboard. She felt helpless again, because she knew she couldn’t do it, and she didn’t even know why. Maybe it was her nerves acting up for being called upon without preparation. If so, why were the words dancing and reforming?

“Why didn’t she ask Henry to do it?” Miya thought. He was the class reader, not her.

“We’re all waiting Miya.” Her teacher said, drawing her back into reality. Miya glanced around the class, and sure enough everybody was watching her – including Kaitlyn and Bianca. They stared at their friend wondering why she was taking so long to read.

“Ugh! Mrs. Collins? Can I read what’s on the board?” Henry asked with his hand raise in the air. Miya let out a relieved breath, knowing that she was saved.

“No Henry. I want Miya to do it.” Mrs. Collins replied.

“But Mrs. Collins she’s taking too long!” Henry objected. A few of Miya’s classmates cried in agreement to what Henry said.

“Settle down everyone! Ok, Henry you can go ahead.” She consented. After Henry finished reading the last sentence Mrs. Collins instructed her class to rewrite the sentences within their books in the correct format. In about 10 minutes the bell rang, signally that class and school was over.

“Alright class. Hand your books to the person in front of you.” Mrs. Collins called out over the noise everyone was making. When all the books were collected she then dismissed the class. Through the exiting crowd, she searched for Miya, but did not locate her. When Mrs. Collins was left alone in her classroom she sat at her desk, in front of the massive pile of her student’s books. She wanted to mark them right away so that she could relax later on.

The first book on the pile was Henry’s own. Mrs. Collins smiled, knowing that Henry was her brightest student. It was no surprise at all when he got a 100%. She marked a few more books until she reached Miya’s own. Marking her work was proving an issue, not because it wasn’t completed, but because she couldn’t understand what was written.

“What is this?” Mrs. Collins muttered under her breath. She saw simple words like ‘the’, ‘us’, and ‘body’ spelt incorrectly. They were spelt like ‘de’, ‘uss’, and ‘doby’. Words that were spelt with the letter ‘b’ were then spelt with a ‘d’ instead, and vice versa. Mrs. Collins couldn’t fathom what Miya had wrote. She then decided to look at her work from the beginning of the term. To her surprise, the spelling patterns were all the same.

“How is this possible?” she asked herself as she reclined into her chair. Just then a knock sounded at the door and Mrs. Collins looked to see who it was. It was Ms. Paige, the History teacher. Mrs. Collins invited her into her classroom with a warm smile.

“How are you Ms. Paige?” she asked.

“Better now that my last class is over.” She laughed.

“Same here.” Mrs. Collins agreed. “Well, it was until I picked up Miya’s book.”

“Miya Marshall?” Ms. Paige questioned.

“Yes. Is she one of your students?”

“Indeed, she is.” Ms. Paige said with a sad smile. “What happened with her book?”

“It’s not her book; it’s what she wrote inside it.” Mrs. Collins stated as she gave Ms. Paige Miya’s book to have a look at. When Ms. Paige looked inside Miya’s book she gasped. She then took out a slender folder out of her carry on, and searched through it until she found what she was looking for and gave it to Mrs. Collins.

“This was a recent essay assignment I gave my class on ‘The Life of Christopher Columbus’. She got an ‘F’.” Ms. Paige identified.

“Yes….and the spelling patterns are exactly the same!” Mrs. Collins exclaimed. “Look at how the words are formed here and then there.” She said as she compared the essay assignment with the Miya’s book.

“Wow. The patterns are exactly the same. But how can this be?” Ms. Paige asked, confusion written on her face as she tried to understand what it all meant.

“I have a hypothesis, and if I am right Miya’s academic future is in jeopardy.” She outlined, as she looked straight out the classroom window.

**********

The hallway was packed with students from all grades. Some were talking to their friends, some were playing around, and some were exiting the school’s building. Miya was doing the latter. Her hoodie covered her head, and her hair was tucked inside it. After the scene in her English class, Miya just wanted to disappear.

Continuing down the hallway she saw words everywhere, words that she couldn’t even read, because they weren’t stationary. They were either plastered on colourful posters, flyers or banners. At that moment, a group of girls chatting loudly passed by and Miya heard fragments of their speeches, which escaped their conversation.

“And the boosters are at the end of the month!” The redhead one said.

“Yeah Tiffany and you’ve got plenty of time to revise. This month is far from being over!” her friend said to her.

“I just want to get better grades. I’m failing most of my classes.” The girl named Tiffany exclaimed.

“And you will.” Her friend encouraged her.

“Boosters?” Miya thought.

Boosters were exams set up by the school to help students who were failing a large percent of their classes to pass the term. They were directly before any major exams so that students could have a chance to improve their academic standing. Miya thought about the boosters, about how they could help her with her grades, but there was anything problem – reading.

She exited the school’s building and walked onto the field, still thinking about the booster exams. She saw Kaitlyn and Bianca talking by the Oak Tree. They saw her and smiled. Miya smiled back as she made her way over to them.

“Hey.” She said to them.

“Hey.” They replied, a bit awkwardly. They haven’t spoken to Miya from the day she requested to be alone - well to Kaitlyn that is. There was an uncomfortable silence that covered the three friends as each of them didn’t know what to say next. Kaitlyn rocked on her heels as she waited for Miya to say something, and Bianca just stood there.

“Ummmm...” Miya started, but then stopped to take a deep breath. “I’m sorry for pushing you guys away. You two are my best friends and it was wrong of me to avoid you guys like that. Do you guys forgive me?” Miya expressed. She looked at her friends with pleading eyes, hoping that they would forgive her. Kaitlyn looked at Bianca, who looked back at her. They then looked at the worried Miya and surprised her with a group hug.

“Of course we forgive Ma!” Kaitlyn cried. “We’re best friends, and best friends stick together.” She told Miya when they pulled apart. Bianca smiled and nodded in agreement, and Miya grinned from ear to ear, happy that she had friends like these two very special individuals in her life.

“We best get going to practice now though Ma.” Bianca reminded Miya. They had basketball practice in the next few minutes, and if they didn’t leave now they would be late.

“Oh right!” Miya exclaimed. “I almost forgot. Let’s go.” She urges Bianca. “We’ll see you later Kate.” She called out to Kaitlyn as she and Bianca made their way to the gym.

**********

“Come on Jazz!” the coach yelled. “Focus! That was your ball!”

“Yes coach.” She said, slightly ashamed with her performance. She got back the ball, did a couple of dribbles with it then passed it along to Miya. Miya then skillfully dodged the opposite team players as she made her way to the goal.

“Yes! Miya that’s it! Play smart, play smart!” her coach yelled.

Miya heeded to her coach’s advice and passed the ball to Bianca. Bianca then passed it to another teammate, who then passed it back to Miya. Miya went for the goal but was blocked by the opposite team player. She cursed in frustration as she then went to get the ball back in her grasp.

The practice was about to end and Miya had to act fast. Thought it was only practice, it meant much more to Miya. To her, the ball symbolized her life, and getting it back meant that she had control over it. She then saw an opportunity and took it.

While the opposite team player was looking to pass the ball, Miya jumped in and blocked it, gaining control of it once more. She then ran towards the goal all while keeping a steady dribble. In the corner of her eyes, Miya saw the opposite team player marking her. The player tried to push the ball from Miya’s grasp, but failed as Miya spun around and made the shot just as the signal called for the practice to be over.

“Yeah!” Bianca cheered as she made her way over to Miya. “That was amazing Ma!” she exclaimed while hugging Miya. Miya’s other teammates expressed congrats to her as they made their way over to their coach.

“You are definitely gonna be the MVP this year.” Bianca told her friend.

“Maybe.” Was all that Miya said.

The coach blew his whistle to get the girl’s attention. “Alright, listen up. Today’s practice was a great one, but we need to be exceptional if we’re going to play in the nationals!” he told them in a clear, loud voice. He had his hands on his hips as he watched the faces of his girls. It would be an understatement if he said that they looked tired, but he knew that everyone of them held great potential – especially one in general.

His gaze stopped at Miya as he continued, “In the playoffs next month against Chester High, the MVP will be chosen. Then, if the team wins, we will be in the nationals. I expect that all of you will do your very best and most importantly of all….work together. If one fails, all fails!” He paused for dramatic effect before saying, “Dismissed.”

“Wow, coach’s really fired up.” Bianca breathed as she and Miya headed towards the gym door.

“Yeah, who wouldn’t be? It’s the nationals we’re talking about. We have to be the best!” Miya told her.

“Miya Marshall?” Miya heard her coach called. “I need to speak to you.”

“I’ll see you outside.” Bianca told her. Miya nodded and made her way over to her coach. He directed her to the bleachers, in which they took a seat.

“What’s up coach?” she chirped.

“Everything….except you grades.” The coach told her with a serious facial expression. Miya looked at her feet, unable to match gaze with her coach.

“Miya you are a phenomenal person, especially in basketball, so I don’t appreciate you failing your classes. Are you having difficulties balancing basketball and your studies?”

“No coach!” Miya said as she looked dead into her coach’s eyes.

“Then what is the matter?” he pressed.

“I don’t know.” Miya wanted to say, but instead she kept silent and averted her eyes.

“Miya, if you are having problems you can discuss it with me or another adult you trust.” The coach encouraged her as he saw that Miya’s silence was an indication that something was wrong.

“I’m fine.” Miya deadpanned.

“I’m not convinced.” He said as he turned to fish a paper out of his folder. “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.” He addressed her as he handed Miya the paper. Miya took the paper reluctantly and stared at it.

“What is this?” she inquired.

Her coach frowned at her before saying, “A notice.”

“A notice for what?” Miya asked again, confusion etched on her small face.

Her coach sighed and replied, “Miya just read the paper.”

That was easier said than done.

Miya would have loved to just read the paper which would have limited the questions forming in her mind. But she couldn’t. Something was wrong with her.

“Coach!” she exclaimed. He then looked at her, feeling his heart break at the way she called him. It was as if she was drowning and was desperate for help. He didn’t want to tell Miya the bad news so he requested the office to print a notice, but apparently Miya wanted him to tell her anyways.

“Miya, because you are failing your classes you are not permitted to play basketball until they are up.” He said slowly as if every word was a needle piercing his tongue.

Miya’s eyes widened in disbelief as her brain finally registered her coach’s words. “You’re kicking me off?” she asked fiercely as she got off the bleachers.

“It’s not my decision Miya, and it’s only temporary until you get your grades up.” Her coach said, mirroring her movements.

Miya grabbed her head with both of her hands as she paced the space between herself and her coach. “I can’t believe this!”

“Miya, all you have to do is to get your grades up, and then you can play again.”

“What about the playoffs and the nationals?” she questioned.

Her coach looked at her, thinking carefully of what he was about to say next. “Booster exams are coming up shortly, if you pass with a 60% or more you can play basketball and be in the playoffs. If not, you will not play in playoffs or the nationals this year.” He cautioned her.

Miya stared at her coach. “This is unbelievable!”

“Miya, like I said…perform better in your remaining classes and do the booster exams and you’ll be fine.” He tried to cheer her up.

“It’s not easy!” Miya cried in frustration.

“Why?” he queried, for he did not understand why Miya was behaving so stubbornly.

Miya stared at her coach, then at her surroundings, feeling as if she was losing control of her ball. She felt helpless and hopeless as depression started to kick in.

“Ugh!!!” she yelled as she ran out of the gym.

“Miya wait!” her coach yelled after her, but it was too late. Miya was already gone.

**********

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